Plans for second Trump-Putin summit in Budapest
In the run-up to today's meeting with Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky in Washington, US President Donald Trump made a surprise phone call to Russian President Putin yesterday. According to Trump, the two leaders have agreed to meet in person in Budapest. Commentators debate what this could mean for the efforts to end the war in Ukraine and deliveries of US Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Zelensky could be left empty-handed
This is an affront to Europe, La Repubblica writes:
“In the end, Putin always succeeds. He appeases Trump, calms him down, gets him to abandon his threats and ultimatums and make concessions. After the bilateral meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, Vladimir Putin has managed to secure another meeting with Donald Trump in Budapest, Hungary, European Union. This is a slap in the face for the Old Continent, which has become Moscow's new official enemy No. 1. ... And it's a defeat for Volodymyr Zelensky, who will probably return empty-handed from his meeting with Trump today.”
Effective empathy trick
Political scientist Abbas Gallyamov praised Trump's communication strategy on Facebook even before the new summit was agreed on:
“In calling on Putin to end the war, Trump constantly emphasises that it is not only Ukrainians who are dying, but Russians too. This is an effective message that prevents the US president from being perceived as 'Russia's enemy'. ... In his rhetoric on the war, Trump has downplayed the political component and focused exclusively on the humanitarian aspect of the problem. He doesn't talk about who is right and who is wrong, who is the aggressor and who is the victim. ... As a means of putting pressure on Putin, this is the right approach. Compared to the US leader, the Russian president now comes across as a ruthless man who is unafraid to sacrifice people in the name of politics.”
Just a bluff?
The promise to deliver long-range missiles was probably just a way of exerting pressure, Corriere della Sera believes:
“Even though Zelensky's return to the Oval Office will take place in a very different atmosphere than that in February, when he was cornered, it is by no means certain that he will return home with a green light to purchase weapons that are considered essential for the ongoing DeepStrike campaign against strategic targets in Russian territory. ... While the Kremlin spoke of a 'dangerous escalation', observers had already pointed out in recent days that the Tomahawks could be just a bluff by Trump to force Putin to the negotiating table.”
Pendulum swinging back towards Kremlin boss
Diplomat and politician Roman Bezsmertnyi comments on Facebook:
“This is clearly a topic for psychologists - how Putin understands Trump's narcissistic nature: he thanked him for the peace in the Middle East, expressed hope for further cooperation with First Lady Melania Trump on the return of Ukrainian children, and began to talk about the possibility of trade relations with the US after the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war. And already the pendulum has swung back in Moscow's favour: Donald Trump announced on social media that a meeting with Russia at the highest level was being prepared for the coming week. In another post, the US president surprised everyone with the announcement that he plans to meet Putin in Budapest.”
Only a fair deal would be a success
It's by no means certain that this meeting will be good for Hungary's image, warns foreign policy expert and former liberal MEP István Szent-Iványi on Facebook:
“The big question, of course, is how this war will end. Will a fair deal be reached, which doesn't seem likely given the people involved, or will they jointly betray Ukraine and throw it under the bus? We may dare to hope that the former will be the case, but the latter wouldn't come as a big surprise either. For Budapest, this meeting will only bring glory if it doesn't become another Munich or Yalta but the venue where a fair agreement is reached.”